With Christmas only a few days away, I decided to do some serious Christmas baking today. You know, making double batches of things. Making more than one recipe per day. Actually having food leftover at the end of the day that my two young men have not devoured. That kind of serious.
I didn’t go overboard. I made some sugar cookies (that I actually iced!) and whipped up a cake mix that became cupcakes. All in all it did make me look like a bit of a domestic goddess. Well, in my mind at least!
As I was icing my cupcakes, I began to estimate carb counts. Most likely the cupcakes would run around 25 grams a piece. The cookies would depend on which shape he chose. I had used Splenda for part of the sugar. That would change things a bit too.
Ideally he would weigh every baked item
Now a “good” diabetes mom would make sure that their son weighed each cookie. She would have the carb factor out (which is listed on my recipe) and we would know exactly how many carbohydrates were in each cookie.
This is the advice that I have given to many parents. It’s much easier and more accurate carb count than WAG’ing (wild a$$ guessing) each piece of food.
The realities of teen carb counting are that he will weigh a few if I nag him
However, I am actually “slacker” diabetes mom who lives with a teen boy who eats for more hours than I am awake. I know that unless I stand over all pieces of food and shove a scale in my son’s face, that WAG is going to cover way more carbs than any exact measurement.
The cookie that is eaten as I am making supper will have a proper carb count because I will see him and yell out “WEIGH THAT!” before he has a chance to stuff it completely in his mouth. The cupcakes that he has after supper will also have a correct count because I will again have cleared my throat as he sat down, asking him where the scale is. After that? The realities of teen carb counting say that all bets are off. With a small bit of luck, he will use the accurate measures as his guide for guessing the next dozen cookies that he eats.
If he is off, he will most likely be high. This would freak out the “good” diabetes mom but she is busy banging her head against the wall of her bedroom. You see her son has already told her that being 16 mmol (288 mgdl) all day long is really no big deal and certainly not worth an injection or a new site.
Bring on the eggnog to help me through!!
Merry Christmas and Good Blood Glucose Levels to all!
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